Seven Ukrainian servicemen injured in Donbas in past 24 hours

No Ukrainian servicemen died in the army operation zone in eastern Ukraine over the past day yet seven soldiers suffered injuries, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

"Fortunately, we had no fatalities over the past day, but seven servicemen of ours were injured and another two were contused," he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

The hostilities in the Luhansk sector centered on the Popasna district, Lysenko said, adding that the hostiles engaged anti-aircraft systems, mortars and, twice, an armored personnel carrier. A mortar attack was seen in Krymske. A total of 14 shelling incidents, including two by use of heavy weapons, were observed in that area in the past 24 hours, he said.

In the Donetsk sector, the hostiles twice fired machineguns, in Luhanske and Novhorodske. "For the first time in months the ceasefire regime was complied with in the Avdiivka industrial zone," Lysenko said.

The situation was most difficult in the Mariupol sector, where the hostiles fired heavy weapons for hours in the Talakivka-Shyrokyne zone and a mortar battery was deployed between Zaichenko and Sakhanka, he said.

"A record number of mines and shells were fired by the enemy on ATO forces' positions over the past day, 777 projectiles of various calibers. The Ukrainian army successfully returned fire," the ministry spokesman said.

The hostiles engaged light weapons and an infantry combat vehicle in Vodiane and Shyrokyne in between of machinegun and mortar attacks, he said. In all, 20 armed provocations, including 14 using heavy weapons, were seen in the Mariupol sector over the past day, he said.